


Scaled Success

by di93



Series: Inquisitorial Enigma [17]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Dorian is jealous of a Dragon, Dragon Fight, Kaaras actually laughs, M/M, Post-Demands of the Qun (Inquisition), Team Bonding, Varric learns a secret
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-15
Updated: 2017-03-15
Packaged: 2018-10-05 09:19:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,712
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10303313
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/di93/pseuds/di93
Summary: After The Iron Bull becomes Tal-Vashoth, Kaaras tries to cheer him up with a little dragon-slaying.





	

“What is the proper method for eating salad?” 

“Fold and stab, never cut!” 

“Name and cause of death of the Lady Dowager’s fourth husband?” 

“Maximilian. Killed by a bear.” 

“In which direction do you pass a plate of food?” 

“To the left!” 

“Shit, could you guys test each other on Orlesian politics some other time? In case you haven’t noticed, we’ve got a bigger problem right now!” Varric shouted as he fell back and out of range from the dragon’s maw. 

“I have to learn it all before we leave,” Kaaras called back. “Besides, I’ll be under at least as much pressure at the Winter Palace!” 

“You can just step on a noble to kill them! I don’t think that will work so well here,” he shot back. 

“I quite agree. The next time you think that dragon hunting is a good idea, I suggest that you don’t!” Dorian shouted before fade-stepping out of the way of a thrashing tail. Kaaras just laughed as he hurled another blast of fire at the great beast. They knew it was on its last leg, but so were they, judging by the number of potions they had left.  

“Taarsidath-an halsaam!” Bull roared as he charged towards the dragon’s front leg again, paying no attention to the static that it was spewing. Dorian had no idea what it meant, but he gathered that Kaaras did, since judging by his joyous laughter that seemed to agree with the sentiment. Some part of Dorian started to feel a little jealous of their prey. He’d never seen Kaaras laugh so much. Luckily, he didn’t have to stay jealous for much longer. 

The Northern Hunter gave one last cry before crumpling in on itself, collapsing to the ground with a great thud. When it was finally down for good, Varric sighed. 

“Crestwood should give us a medal for this.” 

Bull was already cutting into the corpse to take a trophy, and Dorian leaned on his staff, trying to catch his breath. He didn’t get to rest for long, though, before Kaaras nearly bowled him over, wrapping him up in his arms and spinning him around once. 

“That was great! Did you see that? I thought it was going to fry us there a few times. My leg muscle is still twitching from getting shocked,” he said with a grin that threatened to split his face. The man was covered in blood and dirt and that ridiculous Qunari face paint that made him look a bit dragon-like himself, but somehow Dorian found him completely endearing. Then Kaaras set Dorian back down, looking like an oversized mabari, begging for affection. Dorian rolled his eyes as he tried to repress a smile. 

“Yes, yes. You did very well not getting yourself killed.” 

“I want to kiss you.” 

“Probably not the best idea as long as you’ve got that paint on your face. I would be sorely disappointed if I survived a fight with a dragon only to be killed by a kiss from the Inquisitor,” Dorian replied, and Kaaras nodded solemnly, his smile gone as he looked almost mournful. 

“I should’ve left it off.” 

“And gotten your face torn off in the fight? I think you can wait to kiss me until you’ve washed properly.” 

“Can I hug you?” Kaaras asked, and Dorian scoffed. 

“I believe you already did, Amatus.” 

“Sorry.” 

“These robes are ruined now anyhow. I suppose another hug can’t do much more harm,” he replied, and then found himself wrapped up in the Qunari’s arms again. 

“Thank you.” 

“For what? Fighting dragons with you? Ruining my robes? Or giving into your requests?” 

“Yes.” 

“I’m sure you kids are enjoying yourselves over there, but could it wait? The Inquisitor’s still got a rift to close up,” Varric called, and Kaaras sighed making an expression that was dangerously close to a pout. 

“Come along. We’ll close up this last rift and then you can inform the village that they’re perfectly safe thanks to all of your heroic deeds on their behalf,” Dorian said as he pulled away and straightened his robes before following Varric and Bull to the last rift in the area. 

They manage to make quick work of the rift and didn’t have to even touch their few remaining potions. Then they headed to the village to tell the new mayor the good news. By the time they made it back to Caer Bronach, the sun was starting to set, and they were all starting to really feel the effects of taking out a dragon. The scouts at the keep had already begin stripping the corpse of valuable materials, and when they settled around a fire to eat their evening meal, Kaaras found some parchment and ink so that he could practice writing as he listened to Bull’s retelling of the fight to the other Inquisition agents who had gathered. 

“Writing love poems for Sparkler, Inquisitor?” Varric asked while Dorian was busy searching for something “reasonably intoxicating that doesn’t smell worse than that beast.” Whether “that beast” referred to The Iron Bull or the dragon was anyone’s guess. 

“Ah, no, it’s just practice.” 

“Ruffles have you practicing speeches for the Winter Palace?” 

“No, I… My penmanship is terrible,” he muttered as he resisted the urge to scratch out a line of shaky, barely-legible letters. It was better to leave them and know his mistakes to avoid making them again, but the more lines of mistakes he had, the more frustrating it became. 

“Really? I figured that you would be good at that sort of thing, being the Inquisitor and all… But then I guess you got the position more because of the whole indestructible and chosen-by-Andraste thing than because you can write a nice-looking letter,” Varric replied, and Kaaras shrugged. He could Varric was fishing for a story. The dwarf may have been as relaxed as anything, but the way he looked at Kaaras over his tankard gave him away.  

“Having a glowing hand and having regular near-death experiences seem to be the only requirements for the position, and I guess Leliana hasn’t found anyone else that meets those requirements who also has better penmanship.” 

“If she hasn’t found them, they don’t exist. Sounds like you’re stuck with us,” Varric replied and Kaaras smiled just a little. 

“It’s not so bad for me. But if the Maker or Andraste or whatever really did pick me, I wish they’d have blessed my hand with legible script while they were at it.” 

“It can’t really be that bad, can it?” Varric asked, and Kaaras frowned again before holding up the parchment. “Alright, so maybe it is. What have you been using as an example?” 

“I haven’t.” 

“It’ll help. Here, let me borrow that,” Varric said as he moved to a closer seat and then he took the parchment and quill from Kaaras and wrote down a few lines in larger script than his usual at the top of a blank page before handing it back. “There. You can trace that a few times as practice and then try to copy it,” he said, but raised an eyebrow when Kaaras just stared at the words. “What’s wrong?” 

“Your script is different. From Josephine’s and Dorian’s and Cullen’s, I mean.” 

“Yeah, that’s usually how it goes.” 

“I just… That’s an… H? Right?” Kaaras asked, pointing at the first letter. He tried not to be embarrassed or frustrated with himself, but it was difficult. He’d been reading through report after report every day for so long now, but it felt like he wasn’t making any progress, even with all of Dorian’s help. He supposed that it would take longer to learn since most people learned as children, but knowing that still didn’t make it any easier most days. Then he caught sight of Varric’s dumbfounded expression, and nearly got up to leave and practice on his own elsewhere, but the dwarf spoke up first. 

“Well, shit. Alright, that’s a capital H, yeah. And that’s a small A. Next is a small W,” Varric listed out, pointing to each letter and then reading each word. He never expected to need to teach anyone else to read after helping Hawke with Fenris, but then, what did he expect since joining up with the Inquisition? He just kept getting blindsided, and while he wasn’t looking forward to whatever would come next, finding out that the Inquisitor wasn’t quite literate certainly wasn’t the worst news he could have heard. He was just surprised that he hadn’t noticed yet. How in the Maker’s name had the man been able to get through all of those reports every day? Did Ruffles and the others know? Surely they had to. 

“I’ll have you know that there isn’t a single decent thing to drink in this entire fortress, and I’m starting to believe that there isn’t a single decent thing to drink in all of the South,” Dorian called as he returned to his spot at the fire before examining Varric and Kaaras with a curious eye. Kaaras shot him a small smile before turning back to the pages in front of him, carefully tracing the lines Varric had written. Dorian stared Varric down for a moment, feeling a swell of protectiveness rise in him as he realized that Varric now knew this secret, but then settled into his seat on Kaaras’s other side and lightly encouraged him or made suggestions. 

They continued like that for a while until the crowd around Bull dispersed and he decided it was about time to turn in for the night. Dorian waived Kaaras ahead, telling him to hurry up and wash off his vitaar, but before Varric could retire for the night as well, the mage spoke up. 

“So he told you, then?” 

“I figured he was writing bad poetry about you at first, and I just couldn’t resist trying to get a look at that. Would’ve been a goldmine for my next book, but, well. A guy doesn’t write poems with that kind of handwriting,” Varric replied as he settled back into his seat, feeling the built up fatigue of the day finally settle into his bones. 

“If you want to write a novel about him, ask him how he joined the Valo-Kas,” Dorian replied as he glanced over at Varric. He trusted the dwarf, but that didn’t mean that he wasn’t going to be keeping an eye on him from now on for Kaaras’s sake. The Qunari’s story was inspiring, of course, and would undoubtedly make for a best-seller, but some of what made his story so inspiring would also serve as political fodder for his enemies. He wasn’t going to let that happen, especially when the fate of the world was still so precarious and somehow resting squarely on his lover's shoulders. 

“Shit, I bet the guy has more stories than muscle if he ever actually cared to tell people about them,” Varric replied. _You don’t know the half of it_ , Dorian thought, but then, he doubted that he even knew half of it himself. 

“He’s actually quite chatty if he trusts you and thinks you’re interested. Shocking, I know. The first time he started telling me jokes back at Haven, I wondered if I’d actually gone mad from the cold.” 

“You know, Sparkler, I’ll never understand why you decided to study ice magic when you hate the cold so much.” 

“Yes, well, I was foolish and while I was in Tevinter, I thought it was elegant. I had no idea that it would be so damn miserable down here. Honestly, how do you southerners stand it?” 

“You could try covering that shoulder of yours up,” Varric suggested, and Dorian frowned. 

“He says riots will break out if he hides his figure beneath a coat,” Kaaras interjected before Dorian could reply. “And I figure the Inquisition has enough on its hands without putting down riots, so it’s best to just let him complain,” he finished with a small smirk in Dorian’s direction, and Varric laughed. 

“Yes, make fun of me all you like, but I’m not naturally covered in fur like you,” Dorian said, shooting a glare at Varric before turning to Kaaras. “Nor am I unnaturally warm all the time like you. I swear, the healer may have said that you made it out of Haven because you’re simply more ‘sturdy’ than most, but I am certain that it was because you melted all the snow that dared to come within a few paces of you.” 

“No, I’m pretty sure I remember nearly freezing to death. I seem to remember that you shouted at Cullen about it.” 

“Well I could hardly let him leave you to die from improper treatment when you’d bothered to survive the avalanche that you dropped on yourself.” 

“Can I kiss you?” Kaaras asked, but then he heard Varric cough from the side. 

“Yeah, you kids have fun. I’m just going to go turn in for the night,” Varric called as he headed to his own tent, and Dorian turned back to Kaaras, who was still looking at him expectantly. 

“If your face is no longer poisonous, yes.” 

“It’s fine, I promise,” he said before almost folding in half to be able to kiss Dorian in his chair from where he stood.  

“So how does it feel now that your secret’s out?” 

“The more types of script I can read, the better, I guess,” Kaaras replied with a shrug. 

“No, no. I meant the fact that you’re surprisingly talkative,” Dorian replied with a small smirk and Kaaras’s eyes widened. 

“Oh no. You didn’t. You did. He’s going to be asking all sorts of questions for a new serial now, isn’t he?” Kaaras groaned as he took the seat next to Dorian who laughed. 

“Just demand a cut of the royalties, and then you’ll be set for life if this whole being the Inquisitor thing doesn’t work out.” 

“I don’t know if bribing Corypheus to leave Thedas alone would work.” 

“Oh, please. He’s a Tevinter magister. If you can line his pockets with enough coin, I’m sure you could convince him to travel around as a bard, singing your praises in every corner of Thedas,” Dorian replied with a wave of his hand, and Kaaras snorted a laugh. 

“I really hope someone writes a play about that once this is all over.” 

“Why not write it yourself? It could be your debut into the fine arts once you retire,” he replied and Kaaras just stared at him for a moment before looking back towards the fire. 

“Huh.” 

“What is it?” 

“It’s just… if I actually do manage to pull all of this off, saving the Empress, defeating Corypheus—a major ‘if’ I know—and I close all the rifts, I could retire. I just always figured that I’d be running my entire life. But… I might actually be able to choose what I want,” Kaaras said with awe. Never had his life suddenly felt so full of possibilities. Before coming into his magic, he was simply waiting with bated breath to know how he would serve the Qun, but then, rather than being a willing participant in society, he was forced into being no more than an object with neither thoughts nor desires. Then he was able to escape and for so long he only thought of survival, and Andraste certainly hadn’t consulted with him prior to making him her Herald. 

“Yes, you will. And I highly recommend a holiday somewhere that isn’t freezing. I’m sure Josephine’s relatives in Antiva would happily give the Inquisitor, the man who allowed them to reenter trade with Val Royaux, an entire wing in their estate or some comfortable home on the seaside. Of course, why anyone should want to go to Antiva, I wouldn’t know. Still, you’ll have the possibility,” Dorian said, and Kaaras could barely contain himself. 

“Let me kiss you,” he requested, and Dorian barely had time to nod before he found himself on Kaaras’s lap with lips crushing against his own, insistent for their need, and if Dorian wasn’t so thoroughly distracted, he might have been more concerned about the distinct lack of privacy. As it was, though, he was perfectly content to be kissed by the man forever. 


End file.
